Atrocities, Diamonds and Diplomacy: The inside story of the conflict in Sierra Leone
英国前高级专员彼得·彭福尔德以亲身经历讲述塞拉利昂内战期间的外交斡旋、钻石走私与暴行，适合关注非洲冲突与国际干预的读者。
In 1997, Peter Penfold came to Sierra Leone as the British High Commissioner. This very readable autobiographical account relates his eventful three-year tour in the small West African country, which coincided with some of the most violent phases of the decade-long civil war (1991–2001), a conflict in which the UK became closely involved. A vivid and often emotional description of the struggle to rein in the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels and renegade parts of the Sierra Leone Army, the book is also his personal commentary on the Sandline Affair and Arms to Africa Scandal, which dominated the UK media and public attention at the time, and ultimately led to Penfold's early retirement from the diplomatic service. As one of the few published eyewitness accounts – especially of the turbulent months surrounding the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) coup in 1997 and the RUF invasion in 1999 – the importance of this book derives from a unique mix of detailed accounts of high-level diplomatic meetings and observations of street scenes. The multitude of these close-up descriptive moments and poignant anecdotes, largely told from a distinct field level and ‘Sierra Leonean’ perspective, bring to life the complexity and tumult but also surprising engagement and self-organization of the Freetown population, which for most outsiders looked like utter chaos.